1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices and methods for transporting and storing work items and related items.
2. Description of Related Art
It is often necessary or desirable to easily transport or store work items. For example, workers often carry their tool boxes to a job site. Because tool boxes can be quite heavy, this at least strains the worker and at some point, the tool box or boxes may become too heavy to carry. As a result, many workers attach one or more tool boxes to wheeled carts or dollies in order to facilitate this transport. However, such carts or dollies are not primarily intended to transport tool boxes and so require the tool boxes to be attached in an ad hoc manner (e.g., by bungee cords, straps or rope) or sometimes just left resting on the cart or dolly with no restraint. Transporting two or more tool boxes compounds this problem. In addition, it is usually difficult to use the tool boxes when they are attached to the cart because the attachment mechanism often interferes with the functional use of the tool box.
A similar problem occurs with the transport of work items such as compressed gas tanks such as those used to cut or weld, buckets, barrels, crates, tubs or boxes. These work items are typically attached to a dolly to be transported. For example, where the work item is a set of compressed gas tanks, each such set requires a dolly. However, once the tanks are moved to a desired location, the wheeled aspect of the dolly is no longer needed until the tanks need to be moved again. Because the dolly is usually needed for only a small amount of time required to move the tanks but is still attached to the tanks, the expensive dolly cannot be used to transport other tanks or work items. This is true for the transport of other work items as well. Consequently, this is an inefficient use of an expensive piece of equipment (the dolly).
Further, work items such as described above are typically expensive articles that require significant care during transportation and storage. They may also be quite heavy or bulky or both. Some work items also have accessory work items attached such as hoses, ropes or cable that hang below or over the primary work item. The weight in combination with bulky size and sometimes hanging accessory work items makes the work items quite cumbersome or unsafe for a person to carry and often puts the expensive work items at risk Therefore it is desirable to provide a device for safely and easily storing or transporting a primary work item that also accommodates additional accessory work items.
Also, some times the work items are made of pliable materials that have a tendency to mold the shape of the support. If such work items are unsupported or improperly supported by being laid on a flat surface for a lengthy amount of time, these work items becomes deformed and unsuitable for use. Therefore it is important that these work items are transported and stored properly to prevent damage to them.
In view of the foregoing, it is desirable to have a device for transporting or storing work items, with any accompanying accessory work items, that eliminates these stated problems.